We seem to get a year of news every week these days and with all I’m seeing, it’s chaos out there. Hold onto your hats my friends, because it’s not going to stop anytime soon. A big news story this week was, of course, the explosions in Lebanon aimed at Hezbollah militants. I’ve seen it referred to as The Grim Beeper, as well as the Digital or Modern-Day Trojan Horse, and this is a story that will be analysed in depth over the weeks, months and years ahead.
As far as I know, Israel has neither confirmed nor denied any role in the explosions, but according to this article in the New York Times, 12 current and former defense and intelligence officials say the Israelis were behind it, describing the operation as complex and long in the making.
A few thoughts rattling around in my brain about this attack. First up, I’ve seen intelligence officials admiring the brilliance of this action by the Israeli’s. I understand this admiration, of course, but at the same time, I can’t help but feel deep sorrow too.
Secondly, the injuries are horrendous. Yes, deaths did happen, but people have lost eyes, half their face, or worse down below, and hearing this surgeon discuss his experience operating on the injured, well, my sorrow deepens.
Third, what escalation will we now see? If war across the Middle East explodes, we all go down with it, and while Hezbollah has been dealt a crippling blow (which was obviously the goal) to what end? Will it bring peace to the region? Will it bring more horror?
And that brings me to four, what it means to all of us. From basic issues like more security checks as we travel, to the reality that this sort of action can be repeated around the world on anyone, anywhere anytime, all the way through to the environmental impact of an expanded war. Will that tip the world into climate escalation beyond what we’re seeing today? Highly likely.
We can’t afford war, we never could, but right now, war will only hasten the escalating crisis we are already seeing in our environment. Fight for peace, wherever you are, because we must come together and unite now. That is what is required. Don’t let the war mongers win, because no one wins here.
A few articles to dig into this story
- How Israel Built a Modern-Day Trojan Horse: Exploding Pagers – The New York Times
- Hezbollah device blasts: how did pagers and walkie-talkies explode and what do we know about the attacks? The Guardian
- Second wave of explosions hits Lebanon a day after pager attack | AP News
- Hezbollah devices: How did they explode and who is responsible?
- Hezbollah blames Israel after deadly pager explosions in Lebanon
And the reason we can’t afford war is because we are well and truly in unchartered climate territory now. Floods across Europe, Asia, Africa (and the US), wildfires in Portugal, severe drought in the Amazon, 3,000 species facing extinction, and Bloomberg reporting that once-in-a-lifetime flooding events are becoming routine.
But don’t worry, everyone is getting the message, right? Nah! The world’s biggest deforestation project gets underway in Papua for sugarcane, and Microsoft’s AI needs so much power its re-opening nuclear power plants. Excellent!
All while Antarctica’s ‘doomsday’ glacier is heading for catastrophic collapse according to New Scientist (a media view from CNN), Australia Signals La Niña-Like Conditions have arrived which means floods for Australia and a whole lot of ramifications around the world, and Shanghai is getting pummelled AGAIN by its second typhoon in a week (Typhoon Pulasan).
The good news is UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, has said climate change is a more pervasive and fundamental threat than terrorism (spot on), while Anatol Lieven said climate breakdown is a bigger threat than China and Russia (yep), and a final statement of truth – Capitalism is killing the planet – but curtailing it is the discussion nobody wants to have. Absolutely 100%, no one wants to talk about it.
As an example, I attended an event this week where everyone was talking sustainable growth, but no one seemed to understand that growth is the problem – sustainable or not!
Please do follow non-Western news, because the world is not paying enough attention to impacts on the Global South. As an example, Nigeria, which is already facing so much hardship, is now facing more floods as Cameroon must release water from a dam. Just awful.
If you want to know how extreme it’s all been the last few months, Climate Central released a new report this week, titled: People Exposed to Climate Change: June-August 2024. The key conclusions over this short timeframe?
- One in four people on the planet had no break from climate change-driven heat
- Global exposure peaked on August 13, 2024, when 4.1 billion people — half of all people worldwide — experienced unusual temperatures
- The average person on the planet experienced 17 extra days of risky heat because of climate change
- Over 2 billion people (25% of the global population) experienced 30 or more days of risky heat
- 72 countries, home to more than 2.3 billion people, experienced their hottest June-August period since at least 1970
- 180 cities in the Northern Hemisphere had at least one dangerous extreme heat wave
But of course, the shiny stuff is getting our attention instead of the important stuff – like a live-able planet, however the situation for P Diddy is very serious. This video provides an over of the crimes and what to expect:
Favorite visual this week
I had to do two this week, and well, Trump is a brave man taking on the Haitians.
Friend’s content and my own
We had a great discussion on The Know Show. I must say the last 30 minutes were lively, as Joe presented his ideas about the fact the weather has always changed, and he’s right, but there’s a little more to it than that these days. Very grateful to Dr Farshid Pahlevani for joining us on the show.
Dig into the news
Plenty more to read, listen to or watch, so do click through to the reads at the image below, and a reminder, this platform (elink.io) means the articles go back weeks, so have a scan and read/watch/listen to whatever jumps out at you.
Let me know what caught your attention? Or share with me what has your attention now? There’s a lot going on, which means none of us can cover everything. Besides, it’s always great to get feedback so I know I’m delivering something of value.
Cheers
Andrea
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